Back To Life
by Goddess Isa
Summary: While Buffy is off killing Glory, Angel is given a chance to change the future, and he takes it even though it may cost him everything
1. Default Chapter

TITLE: Back To Life- 0/?  
AUTHOR: Goddess Isa  
EMAIL: goddessisa@aol.com  
SUMMARY: While Buffy is off killing Glory, Angel is given a chance to change the future, and he takes it even though it may cost him everything  
SPOILER: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE END FO S5 BUFFY! Read at your own risk. Also contains minor ANGEL S2 spoilers.  
DISTRIBUTION: Sure, just email me & lmk where it's going - I like seeing my name in print =) http://planetslaythis.homestead.com is my website.  
FEEDBACK: Please, I'd hate to have to Slay for it. =P  
RATING: TV-14  
DISCLAIMER: Joss Whedon, David Greenwalt and UPN own the characters in this fic that you know. The characters that you don't, like Elisabeth and Joseph for instance, are all mine. I love it when I can say that.  
  
  
  
"Are you sure they can handle this?" Joseph asked.  
  
Elisabeth nodded. "They are strong. They have the power to fight."  
  
"I don't know. He may be weak."  
  
"He is a Warrior!" Elisabeth stomped her foot and the entire cave shook. "He will be strong enough to sustain everything thrown at them over the coming months."  
  
"What about her?" Joseph asked.  
  
"What about her?"   
  
"She is the Slayer."  
  
Elisabeth was growing bored with this. "And your point would be..."  
  
"What if this is a mistake?" he asked, panic in his voice. "She is only a Slayer. She's practically a *mortal*."  
  
"Don't insult her intelligence with such ridiculousness," Elisabeth ordered. "And don't keep voicing your opinions like that in public. You're liable to embarress yourself in front of the other Elders."  
  
"And we wouldn't want that now, would we?" he asked sarcastically.  
  
"Do you want to be sent back?" she asked. "Because it can be done," with a wave of her hand, a portal to his other life opened up in front of him. "Gonna jump, Joseph?" she asked.   
  
"No," he said firmly, turning away. "It is different this time."  
  
Another wave of her hand and the portal was gone. "I was hoping you might say that."  
  
"Just how do you expect to reach her?" Joseph asked. "When given directions, she is known for going the other way."  
  
"I'm not going through here," Elisabeth changed the image in her viewing window. "I'm going through him."  
  
"The Warrior?" Joseph asked. "That will not be approved by the others."  
  
"It already has been," she smiled. "It's going to work out beautifully."  
  
"You little pet project is going to be a lot more trouble than it's worth, if you ask me."  
  
Elisabeth headed for her office to put the wheels into motion. "I didn't ask you."  
  
  
*****  
  
  
"Angel Investigations. We help the--Giles? Wait, slooow down. She what? Oh God. I am SO sorry. No, I don't know where Angel is. No one's seen him all day. Of course I will. I'm really sorry, Giles," Cordy wiped a tear from her eyes. "I'll be sure that he comes right to Sunnydale when I find him. I'm coming too. Bye."  
  
Cordy hung up and looked at Gunn and Wesley with a somber expression.  
  
"Buffy's dead," she said quietly.  
  
And then she woke up.  
  
Cordy was drenched in sweat, and her heart was racing as she tried to recover from the nightmare. She got out of bed and padded into the kitchen where she poured herself some juice and kept repeating that it was only a dream. It felt so real that she called Giles in Sunnydale and woke him up out of bed not once but twice.  
  
"Sorry," she mumbled before returning to bed.  
  
"That almost felt too real," she said quietly as she pulled the covers up to her chin and closed her eyes. "Almost like a vision."  
  
  
*****  
  
  
The next morning at work, things progressed as they usually did. That night, Wesley and Gunn were busy buying supplies when it happened.  
  
A vision.  
  
Only it wasn't what Cordy had been dreading. It wasn't a horrible image of Buffy dying, or even of her own self getting the call.  
  
Instead she saw a beautiful woman in a flowing gown made of tulle and little else. She was in a cave not too far from the hotel Angel owned, and she was kneeling at an alter.  
  
Angel had to get there. Cordelia didn't know why, she just knew that he did.  
  
So she sent him, without realizing that with hoe gone, there would be no one there to take care of her while she recovered from the mind splitting headache.  
  
Closing her eyes and leaning back in her chair, Cordy prayed for a reprieve from the Hell that was her life.  
  
  
*****  
  
"You'll get your release soon enough," Joseph promised from his special place. "Very soon indeed."


	2. Flowers On The Grave

TITLE: Back To Life  
AUTHOR: Goddess Isa  
EMAIL: goddessisa@aol.com  
SUMMARY: While Buffy is off killing Glory, Angel is given a chance to change the future, and he takes it even though it may cost him everything  
SPOILER: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE END FO S5 BUFFY! Read at your own risk. Also contains minor ANGEL S2 spoilers.  
DISTRIBUTION: Sure, just email me & lmk where it's going - I like seeing my name in print =) http://planetslaythis.homestead.com is my website.  
FEEDBACK: Please, I'd hate to have to Slay for it. =P  
RATING: TV-14  
DISCLAIMER: Joss Whedon, David Greenwalt and UPN own the characters in this fic that you know. The characters that you don't, like Elisabeth for instance, are all mine. I love it when I can say that.  
  
  
  
Chapter One - Flowers On The Grave  
  
  
  
There was much to be done before battle.  
  
Buffy knew this, but there were only a few hours left. She waited until everyone had gone to bed, until the cave was quiet, the only noise coming from the rhythmic breathing of her friends, to leave.  
  
It wasn't a long walk to the cemetery, especially for someone who knew it as well as Buffy did. She went there almost every day, sometimes to patrol, sometimes to think.  
  
But most of the time to visit. Joyce's headstone was large, with a beautiful picture of her and her precious girls, riding a merry-go-round when they first moved to Sunnydale. Buffy chose that photo because it was the one thing that, even without Dawn, truly happened.  
  
It had been a warm, sunny day, and Buffy had been out all night on patrol with Giles. She'd snuck into the house just after nine a.m. and it was twenty after ten when Joyce bounced into her room.  
  
  
"Rise and shine, little girl," Joyce teased.  
  
"I'm not little," Buffy mumbled from under her covers.  
  
"Oh, stop being such a spoilsport!" Joyce pulled the covers away and smiled at her. "Marilyn called. She rented the merry-go-round at the park for her little girl's birthday party today, but Isabel has fallen ill and won't be able to celebrate."  
  
"I know that in some foreign land, this has to do with me."  
  
"How did you know?"  
  
"You always look at me like that when you're gonna ask me to do something you know I don't wanna do."  
  
Joyce smiled. "My daughter the optimist."  
  
"Mom, whatever it is, just tell me so I can get some sleep."  
  
"All right, I give. I want you to come with me to the park. Marilyn asked me to ride the damned thing just once so she wouldn't feel like it was a complete waste of her money."  
  
"Why would she ask you?"  
  
"She knows I'm the only other person at the gallery with a child."  
  
"Does she know that I'm sixteen?" Buffy asked, pulling the covers up to her chin.  
  
"Come on, it'll be fun," Joyce opened all the blinds in Buffy's room, letting sunlight brighten it.  
  
Wow, Buffy thought. In the daylight, it almost looks like a normal teenager lives in here.  
  
"I might be persuaded to go shopping afterwards," Joyce bribed.  
  
"You drive a hard bargain," Buffy threw the covers back and yawned before getting out of bed.  
  
"You know," Joyce picked up Mr. Gordo and set him on her lap, "You're my favorite daughter."  
  
"I'm your only daughter," Buffy mumbled before turning on the shower.  
  
  
Reality blew cold wind in Buffy's face as she sat there, staring at the image of herself, her mother and Dawn.  
  
"It's so unfair," she whispered. "Just like everything else in my life. I always hurt the people I care the most about."  
  
She waited a minute before speaking again, trying to figure out what she should say.  
  
"I can't stay long....I only came because I couldn't bear the idea of dying and not having been able to....I'm doing this for Dawn. Everything I've done since the day you died has been for her. I make her go to school and I watch her do her homework and I even took her to a Backstreet Boys concert to try and cheer her up.  
  
"I'm gonna kill Glory for her, Mom. Even if it kills me, I'm gonna be sure that she doesn't kill Dawn. That she doesn't get near Dawn."  
  
Buffy laid the roses she'd purchased on the grave and kissed her mother's picture. "I'm so scared, Mommy," she whispered. "I've tried so hard to be strong and be just like you, but I can't do it. You always told me how strong I was and how proud you were of me for being able to do what I do. But I'm not strong. You were the strong one.  
  
"You sat at home every night knowing that I was going out there to Slay and I might not be coming home. And you were there when Dawn needed you, even when you were sick. You were our rock. And now we have nothing."  
  
Buffy messily rubbed her eyes and sniffled. "I need to go. There's only a few hours before sunrise. I love you, Mom. Maybe I'll see you soon."  
  
Buffy ran back to the cave, not wanting to take time to think any longer. She knew what she had to do--now she just had to make herself do it.  
  
The first thing she did after arriving back at the cave was write Dawn a letter.  
  
Using her journal, she scribbled page after page to her little sister about why she had to save her and how she hoped she got the chance to hug her when it was all over, but if she didn't, at least she would be safe.  
  
"I'll be with Mom," Buffy wrote, "If I'm not with you. Think of that. And try not to hate me too much for it. I love you."  
  
Buffy slid the journal under Dawn's pillow, then she knew beside her and kissed her forehead as she slept.  
  
"There's so much I need to say to you," Buffy whispered. "Even if you were real, I couldn't love you any more than I already do. You're my baby sister. And even when I didn't have you, I always wanted you.  
  
"I remember, from before, I used to beg Mom and Dad to give me a baby sister. And now I have one."  
  
Buffy watched Dawn sleep for another minute, then she checked her watch and stood up.  
  
"Good bye," she whispered. "I love you."  
  
Without being detected by Giles or anyone else, Buffy stole out into the night, a bag of weapons and memorized spells she'd learned by candlelight over the past week her only defenses against Glorificus. She just hoped they were enough.  
  
  
*****  
  
  
As Buffy had expected and hoped, Glory's lair was dark at sunrise. Buffy took a deep breath, picked up her weapons bag and entered the building.  
  
No one was around, not even a guard. Buffy was surprised--she'd been expecting a tussle right from the start. Instead, she found peacefulness inside the dark building.  
  
It was eerie.  
  
She didn't dare set her bag down for fear someone would charge, so Buffy kept it on her shoulder as she began searching the grounds for clues or more weapons. While looking though a bureau full of tacky makeup and fringed underwear, Buffy heard footsteps behind her. She reached into her bag, pulled out a dagger and spun around, ready to attack.  
  
"Ben?!" she asked, half-shocked, half-relieved.  
  
"Do you got a death wish or something?" he asked.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Buffy questioned.  
  
"You're not supposed to answer a question with a question," Ben smirked. "Didn't they teach you anything in English class?"  
  
"Just to mind my manners," Buffy said lightly. "But I learned how."  
  
Before Ben could react, Buffy stabbed the knife through his stomach. She repeated the motion until he fell limp. Buffy dropped the dagger and stood over him, staring.  
  
"Sorry, but I just couldn't take any chances," she whispered. "At least now, I have one less man in my life to worry about."  
  
"That doesn't matter," Glory said from the top of the stairs. "In a few minutes, you won't have any worries at all."  
  
"What is it with you religious people?" Buffy asked, clutching another knife inside her bag. "You're full of all this talk about worries, and peace, and finding your place. It all sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me."  
  
"Do you usually laugh before dying?" Glory asked. "I hear you've had experience with this before."  
  
"It was nothing I couldn't handle," Buffy said. "And they were all stronger than you."  
  
Before Glory could come up with another quick retort, Buffy threw the dagger at her. It bounced off her shoulder as though she it were made of rubber.  
  
"Nice touch, isn't it?" Glory asked. "Didn't I tell you not to mess with me?"  
  
"Give it up, Glory," Buffy threw the bag down, ready to fight fist to fist. Weapons were obviously going to be useless. "I'm not going down."  
  
Glory laughed. "I love it when they talk tough."  
  
"This isn't just talk," Buffy threatened. "This is war."  
  
Buffy saw Glory raise her arm, but she never saw it coming. The last thing she remembered before blacking out was the spell she'd memorized disappearing from her brain.


	3. Discovery

TITLE: Back To Life- 2?  
AUTHOR: Goddess Isa  
EMAIL: goddessisa@aol.com  
SUMMARY: While Buffy is off killing Glory, Angel is given a chance to change the future, and he takes it even though it may cost him everything  
SPOILER: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE END FO S5 BUFFY! Read at your own risk. Also contains minor ANGEL S2 spoilers.  
DISTRIBUTION: Sure, just email me & lmk where it's going - I like seeing my name in print =) http://planetslaythis.homestead.com is my website.  
FEEDBACK: Please, I'd hate to have to Slay for it. =P  
RATING: TV-14  
DISCLAIMER: Joss Whedon, David Greenwalt and UPN own the characters in this fic that you know. The characters that you don't, like Elisabeth and Joseph for instance, are all mine. I love it when I can say that.  
  
  
  
Chapter Two - Discovery  
  
  
  
  
The cave was dark.  
  
Not that most caves Angel traveled through weren't, but this one was especially eerie. He felt privileged to be trusted enough by the others to take this one on his own--it was the first time they were really letting him take charge of things since his return.  
  
He liked it.  
  
"Let's see," Angel mumbled to himself. "The map said I take a right, then a left, then another right--"  
  
"And you'll arrive at the Witch's altar with the candles everywhere?" a beautiful woman cloaked in lavender silk approached Angel and waved a hand. The room illuminated with candles, just like Cordy had drawn from memory of her vision.  
  
Angel shivered. He'd never known of a demon to have that kind of powers. Only a Witch. But Cordy didn't get a Witchy vibe from the vision. She said she sensed something bigger. Angel could only imagine what she'd meant.  
  
"Welcome," the woman said, giving him a warm smile. "You're just in time."  
  
"You were expecting me," Angel guessed.  
  
"I was hopeful that you'd make an appearance, yes."  
  
"Who are you?" Angel asked, stepping away from her.  
  
"You needn't be afraid, Warrior. I am here to guide you unlike any other."  
  
"Who are you?" he repeated.  
  
She laughed. "They were right about you. Always asking questions. If you were breathing, I am quite sure we'd have you down as a Conspiracy Theorist."  
  
"I'm low on time," Angel told her, not sure what else he should say.  
  
"On the contrary, in here, time is all you've got," she reached out a hand for him. "Life is valuable without hours and minutes."  
  
"Somehow I doubt that," Angel said dryly"  
  
"Come," she extended her hand again. "I have much to show you."  
  
"Not until you tell me your name."  
  
"I am Elisabeth. An Elder. And you are wasting precious seconds we haven't got to spare."  
  
Angel warily took the woman's hand. "I thought you said time is on our side up here."  
  
Elisabeth smiled. "I wasn't talking about here. I was talking about down there."  
  
As soon as she said the words, Angel appeared in a hospital room. There were doctors milling around everywhere, and a machine was making the flatline noise.  
  
Angel screamed when a nurse moved aside and he saw that the patient lying on the bed was Buffy.  
  
"You can't touch her," Elisabeth warned as he reached for his love. "You aren't here, not really. This is just a glimpse. A test."  
  
"A test of what?"  
  
"Your character," she waved her arm and they were back in the cave where he'd met her.  
  
"I don't understand. Please, tell me that Buffy's going to be all right. I can't live if she isn't okay."  
  
"You aren't living anyway," Elisabeth waved a hand and a glass of something sparkling and pink appeared in her hand. "Do you know why you are here?"  
  
"Cordelia had a vision. I came to check it out."  
  
Elisabeth smiled. "I sent her that vision, just like I send her so many of the others. This one was different though. Do you know why?"  
  
"Because it was a trick?" Angel guessed.  
  
"The Elders do not play games, Angelus," she said in a warning tone. "I would think you should've learned that by now."  
  
"I never was a fast learner. Tell me about Buffy."  
  
"Wouldn't you rather I show you?"  
  
Angel shrugged.  
  
"It's so much more fun to see the show live and in person," she waved her glass away and extended her hand to him again.  
  
When he didn't move, she said, "You're going to have to touch me for this to work."  
  
Reluctantly, Angel took her hand again and was instantly walking through Buffy's life. It was strange, seeing all the things they'd done whirl past him. Things were moving too fast to linger, but too slow to forget a single memory.  
  
"This is where it gets interesting," Elisabeth told him.  
  
Angel watched as Buffy spoke soothingly to Dawn before leaving her in Spike's care. He watched as she snuck out when everyone else was asleep and headed for Glory's hideout.  
  
He stared at her as she used weapon after weapon, spell after spell, dark magick and light, and still, she failed.  
  
Giles was not far behind, but Glorificus and her minions had already set the place on fire before leaving for parts unknown. Giles managed to rescue Buffy without either of them suffering severe burns, but those were the least of his concerns.  
  
She wasn't breathing.  
  
Giles rushed her to a hospital, and again, Angel watched as the doctors worked to revive her. Her heart stopped and her time of death was called.  
  
"No!" Angel shouted. "She can't die! I won't let her! I won't let that happen!"  
  
"That's just what I wanted to hear," Elisabeth said as they reappeared in the cave.  
  
"Why are you showing me all this?" Angel asked. "You said this was a test--what kind of test?"  
  
"A test of your will," Elisabeth answered. "Of your spirit, your heart. You were never meant to be a vampire, you know that don't you?"  
  
"You mean some are?" his tone was sarcastic, but Elisabeth simply ignored it and nodded.  
  
"Of course. Most things that go on are meant to be, Angel, but there is the occasional accident that we have no control over."  
  
"Buffy is not going to be one of those accidents. I won't allow it."  
  
"I'm so glad to hear you say that."  
  
"Tell me what to do."  
  
"It's simple. You have to go back to the past, to your human life, and not let Darla sire you."  
  
Angel blinked. "I have to what?"  
  
"You heard me. Of course, if you're not strong enough to do that--"  
  
"I can handle anything for Buffy," Angel promised. "What else do I have to do?"  
  
"You must kill her, with a tree branch you just happen to find in the alley."  
  
"And then what?"  
  
"Then you shall live out your mortal life and die."  
  
"How does that help Buffy?" Angel demanded.  
  
"Without you in her life, the Slayer will rely on her own instincts to fight and only that. She will never reveal herself to others, and fate will take its course as it was meant to be."  
  
"I don't understand," Angel was flustered as Hell.  
  
"You will," Elisabeth promised. "I'll need your answer now."  
  
"You promise me that Buffy will live?" Angel asked.  
  
"The battle with Glorificus will never even come to pass."  
  
"Then yes, I'll do it. For Buffy."  
  
Elisabeth smiled, and waved her hand.  



End file.
